Experiential UT

John Henry Newman wrote, “The duty of a university is instruction rather than research, and to train the mind rather than diffuse useful knowledge.”(P.165) After reading through all of our assigned text, I felt that a university is everything, but what you’d expect. We’ve been taught that this expensive college will give you a degree at the end of four years, a poof, all of a sudden you will be deemed prepared for the real world.



John Henry Newman when he was made Cardinal

Why do I go to college? I originally came to UT, for the simple reason of that’s what you do after high school if you want to become successful. I was so wrapped up in becoming someone, that I never took time to realize, who I am or what it is I want to get out of UT. Well the answer that popped out of the book was knowledge. “We speak of the communication of Knowledge as being Education, we thereby really imply that Knowledge is a state or condition of mind.”(P.176) Since education is the way to communicate to students it makes sense that most professors would rather you understand the meaning or the steps behind your answer, instead of just the answer. I feel the point they’re trying to get across is that in any given situation, life throws your way, whether it is in your professional or personal life, the University will prepare you with the knowledge you need.



Knowledge + Education= Opportunity

Experiential Learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. When I was reading this active learning it became a synonymous meaning with episodic memory (which is also in the text). In my Applied Learning & Development class we’re learning why our memory chooses to remember certain stimuli. One reason for it is episodic memory, which is when something significant and/or interesting happens (out of the norm) and you instantly can recall that memory vividly. The same thing is true of experiential learning, when you have are more of an ability to “actively participate in the learning process rather than passively receiving knowledge,” (P.184) you are to gain more. In the passage it outlines 10 reasons why experiential learning is more meaningful. The one that is most important is number 10, which says, “It can make the value of education more obvious because you begin connecting information to the “real world.”(P.184)



Experiential Team

So, when we enter a University our expectations may not be what we had anticipated, yet we leave here knowing more in spite of it. “If then a practical end must be assigned to a University course, I say it is that of training good members of society.”(P.170)



University of Texas+ Experiential Learning=Me